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[MPROVEMENTS 



IN AND ABOUT THE 



CITY OF NEW-YORK, 



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PROPOSED BY /> . W' <^ A 



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D. HOUGH, JUNR., 



Including his plan to annex Jersey City to the future City of Hoboken ; to 
annex Bergen Neck to New- York ; to build a B|ilkhead from Hoboken to 
parts opposite Bergen Neck ; to make ground from this Bulkhead to the base 
of the Palisades and Bergen Neck ; to bring water from the Passaic river, 
above Paterson, to Communipaw ; to cut through Bergen Hill ; to extend, by 
certain improvements, Harlem and Hudson River Railroads to Battery Place ; 
to make Grround, Buildings, Streets and Piers on North River ; and lastly, 
more in detail, his plan to Enlarge and Improve the New- York Battery, in a 
manner furnishing connectedly unequalled commercial facilities, and the most 
magnificent Promenade in the world. 




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^ NEW- YORK : 

OLIVER & BROTHER, PRINTERS, 89 NASSAU-STREET. 

1851 . 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 

D. HOUGH, JuNR. 

In the Clerk's Office of the ^strict Court of the United States for the Southern District 
" of New-York. 



HS3 



IMPROVEMENTS, 

BY D. HOUGH, JUNR. 



As novelty and progress in farming, manufacturing and 
traveling distinguish the present age, the public, I presume, 
will not be unduly startled from its propriety by novelty and 
progress in the methods of building, enlarging and improving 
our cities. 

Two great Manufacturing and Commercial Cities may, 
with profit, be built, mostly on made ground, on the west 
side of North River and New- York Bay, opposite to and in- 
cluding Hoboken, Jersey City and Bergen Neck. 

The States of New- York and New-Jersey should make 
a compromise. New- York should cede certain water rights 
to New-Jersey, opposite Jersey City and Hoboken. New- 
Jersey, in return, should cede Bergen Neck to New- York. 
Then let the chief Manufacturing and Commercial City of 
New-Jersey be called Hoboken, on account of the excellence 
of the word for the name of a city. For the same reason 
let the part ceded by New-.lersey to New- York, and the part 
now belonging to New-York between Jersey City and Staten 
Island, be called Communipaw. Make Communipaw, thus 
defined, as much a part of the city of New- York as Harlem 
or Manhattanville. Build a bulkhead from the north shore 
of Hoboken to or southerly of Bedlow's Island, and eventu- 
ally to or beyond Constable's Point, Bergen Neck, in from 
20 to 30 feet of water, outside of, but in range with, Ste- 
ven's Point, Ellis's Island, Bedlow's Island, and Robbin's 
Reef Make ground, with a suitable ascent for drainage, 
from this bulkhead back to the Palisades and Bergen Neck. 

"The description and localities of the materials with which 
I propose to make the bulkhead and ground aforesaid, as 
well as the manner of performing the work at such mode- 
rate cost as to render large sections immediately practicable 



I reserve for those from whom I shall receive a fair compen- 
sation for my discoveries. 

Ten miles from Communipaw, across Newark Meadows, 
into Belleville, a short cut will connect with a level of the 
Morris Canal fed by the Pompton River, which level, also, 
by means of a dam about two miles above Paterson, may 
be fed by the Passaic River at an elevation in either case of 
180 feet above tide water. Build this dam. Make the 
canal below it four or five times the present dimensions. 
Convey the water from Belleville in a double vault aque- 
duct, beneath a continuous, indestructible stone or brick 
building, the bulk and weight of which shall make the upper 
spans of the arches tight and substantial ; or in cast-iron 
pipes. 

Buy the water power of the Passaic up to and including 
Little Falls. Allow the factories in Paterson the surplus 
water, and furnish to each, in addition, steam power equal to 
the water-power now used. Make about two miles of the 
canal, from the dam proposed, sufficiently large for the whole 
Passaic River except in freshets. At the Paterson end of 
this enlargement, a short distance above Passaic Falls, take 
out the surplus water, and sell the power for the use of 
factories. Thus the water power of Paterson, with its 
recommended steam auxiliary, will be more reliable, and 
actually increased, as estimated by the present mode of 
application. 

Make a deep, wide, straight cut through Bergen Hill, op- 
posite Communipaw, for a great thoroughfare from Battery 
Place to Newark. 

Widen West and Beaver streets. Widen and extend Gold 
street northerly to Chatham Square, and southerly to Beaver 
street. Extend Harlem Railroad through the Bowery, Chat- 
ham Square, Gold and Beaver streets as improved to Battery 
Place. Extend Hudson River Railroad through West street 
to Battery Place. Let light stage cars, in pairs, having a 
small improved locomotive between each pair, accomodate 
the city travel on these roads. Let the fare on both roads 
to or from Battery Place and 54th street be one cent ; and 
to or from Battery Place, Harlem and Manhattanville, two 
cents. These improvements, besides effectually relieving 
Broadway, will immensely increase the value of property in 



all the upper part of the City, as well as on the entire line 
of the roads as proposed. 

Commence at Pier 1 North River, making ground for build- 
ings, cross streets, and three parallel streets outside of West 
street, opposite to which, at suitable distances apart, extend 
piers into North river, 40 feet wide and 900 feet long. Let 
_t his work be exte nded in sections to thejim)e£partofthej^^ 

I propose a substitute for, or an improvement of, the plan 
adopted by our City Councils, to enlarge the New-York 
Battery. 

For what is my invention, and valuable in application, 
described in what follows, I claim inventor's rights. For 
compensation, however, incase of success,! shall rely main- 
ly upon the liberality of the City Authorities. 

Make an Inside, an Outside, and a Centre, or Palisade 
Battery ; the whole covering a space of 117 acres. 

Let the Inside be the present Battery, below Pearl street, 
extending about 300 feet beyond Staten Island Ferry Pier, 
having, in all, an area of 10^ acres, with 637i feet front 
towards Governor's Island, including 137| feet sea wall walk 
hereafter described. 

Let the Outside be wholly a new-made Battery, 1800 feet 
front on North river, having, also, an area of 10 J acres, 
with a water front, in all of 2,-500 feet. 

Let the Centre, or Palisade Battery, be situated between 
State street, the Inside and Outside Battery, and between 
Greenwich street and Broadway, below the south end of 
Trinity Place ; having, in all, including State street and 
Battery Place, an area of 96 acres. 

Demolish the present buildings between Broadway and 
Greenwich street below the south end of Trinity Place. 
Fit and make ground and bulkhead, in all, on Palisade Bat- 
tery plot, for 17 blocks of stores with attaching balconies, 
17 streets, 8 sea wall walks, and 7 docks. Let these blocks, 
docks, and streets, exceptinij Pearl street and Battery Place, 
as extended and improved, run in parallel directions, north- 
erly and southerly. Build 8 blocks of stores, 200 feet apart, 
all 5 stories high, 1650 feet long by 100 feet wide. Let the 
inside block front easterly on the Inside Battery and State 
street above Pearl. Let the outside block front westerly on 
the Outside Battery. 



Let the space between these 8 blocks southward be occu- 
pied by 7 docks, each 1100 feet long by 125 feet wide, having 
a street on either side 37J feet wide ; and northward by 7 
blocivs, all 5 stories high, and 500 feet long by 100 feet ^h,V<i^ 
having streets on either side 50 feet wide. Let the north- 
erly ends of the 15 blocks described be on Battery Place, 
except the outside block|, which shall be parallel with the 
rest, but situated on a notch of the Outside Battery. 

Let underground passages be made, for water to pass free- 
ly to and from these seven docks and the North River Docks. 

Fronting on Broadway and Greenwich street, build two 
blocks, 12 feet apart, each about 600 feet long by 100 feet 
wide, graded on the tops, mostly to a uniform ascent, rising 
from the junction of Trinity Place and Greenwich street, 
and from Broadway, opposite, to an elevation of five stories 
at Battery Place. 

Make Battery Place 150 feet wide, and extend the same 
to the Outside Battery. Let State street be, at no point, less 
than 100 feet wide. 

Extend Pearl street parallel with Battery Place, passing 
the north end of the Inside Battery through eight arches to 
be made in the eight blocks before mentioned, and between 
the northerly ends of the docks and the southerly ends of 
the 500 feet blocks before described, to the Outside Battery. 

At the south end of each of the eicfht blocks before named, 
build a tier of five balconies, making forty in all. Let each 
balcony be IdO feet long by 16 feet wide. 

Make, at the base of these balconies and at the ends of 
the streets on either side, sea wall walks, all 25 feet wide, 
six each 175 feet front, and two — one connecting with the 
Inside and the other with the Outside Battery — each 137 J 
feet front. These balconies, it will be noticed, all front South, 
opposite to, and westerly of. Governor's Island. 

All the blocks before mentioned, being massive, inde- 
structible, self-extinguishing fire-proof work, made in a new 
and peculiar manner, as hereinafter described, to last for 
centuries, let the tops of all — making an area of 41 acres — 
be covered by earth for a promenade, which shall have, 
beside its novelties, the usual attractions of walks, grassplots 
and trees. Sixteen iron bridges, each sixteen feet wide — 
two over the east end of Battery Place, and fourteen midway 



between Battery Place and Pearl street as extended — will 
connect the tops of all the blocks, and, consequently, all of 
this promenade. 

, The main entrance to the Promenade here proposed, will 
be by the graded Ascents opening on Broadway and the 
junction of Trinity Place and Greenwich street. Twelve 
stairways will, also, lead to it ; on^ in the inside block at the 
northwest corner of the Inside Battery, one each in the 
north ends of the 3d and 6th 1650 feet blocks, one in the 
north end of the block on the Outside Battery, and one each 
through the 8 tiers of Balconies before described. 

The Batteries, Balconies, and Sea Wall Walks proposed, 
devoted exclusively to the purposes of a Public Promenade, 
will contain an area of 64 acres, and present direct, unob- 
structed fronts on our noble bay and harbor, making in the 
aggregate 10325 feet, or 8675 feet more than we now have 
from the present Battery, including the part obstructed by 
Castle Garden. 

The number of stores in all the blocks will be 709, each 
25 feet front by 100 feet deep, and all 5 stories high, except- 
ing those over the Pearl street Arches, and under the graded 
Ascents fronting on Broadway and Greenwich street. Of this 
number 16 will front on Broadway and a rear yard, 16 on 
Greenwich street and a rear yard, 23 easterly on a street, 
and westerly on the Outside Battery, 43 easterly on a street 
and a dock, and westerly on the Clutside Battery, 43 west- 
erly on a street and a dock, and easterly on the Inside Bat- 
tery, 345 on two streets, and 258 on two streets and two 
docks. 

I now proceed to the more important part of what I have 
to say — important, because the main question in regard to 
the feasibility of my whole plan rests upon points which I 
am about to meet. Let the principal materials of the blocks 
before named be stone, iron, brick, and cement. Let the 
walls rest on inverted arches, over foundations made as good 
as possible. Let the partition walls be about 11 feet apart 
in the clear. Let all the blocks contain a succession of ce- 
ment laid, brick partition walls, and arches for floors, 
and roof, of that space or span, excepting arches passed 
through by streets. If necessary, let all the arches be ribbed 
by I plates of iron. As each store will have a partition 



8 

wall through the centre, let these walls have frequent 
openings, faced with iron or stone. Let all the walls and 
arches be sufficiently thick to withstand any weight or pres- 
sure that may be brought against them. Construct the 
front walls with brick backs and brown stone facings, in 
the usual way. Let the tops of the arches, both for the 
floors and the roof, be covered by large flag stone, laid in 
cement. Let every door, window, hatch, and stairway, in 
all the stores, have a fire-proof iron shutter, lined on the 
shutting edges with India-rubber, or other elastic mate- 
rial, in such manner as, when closed, to be water-tight. 
Let all the shutters be movable (to close or open,) by 
means of tiller chains leading to, at all times, easily accessi- 
ble wheel-houses in the first stories. Let this be done on 
the same principle that tiller chains are made to control 
the rudder of a steamboat. 

Lay water pipes,(S:ept "(empty except in case of fire) pass- 
ing up partition walls from the main line in the street oppo- 
site, in such manner that each, by means of valves controla- 
ble in the wheel-houses, will fill separately with water any 
required story or floor of two stores. Let all the stores be 
thus furnished. Let all the pipes have street waste-valves, 
to let off the water in the stores when necessary. 

Capstone the partition walls at the base of the roof arches. 
Let these capstones be wider than the walls upon which 
they rest — wider than the base of the arches resting upon 
them. 

Let these capstones have gutters on either side, with cen- 
tre outlets, passing through partition walls into dock sewers. 
If necessary, under the roof arches resting on the capstones, 
let there be movable tin roofs. Let this roofing consist of 
a succession of arched, rim-laping troughs, tied at the ends 
by small cords to iron rods fastened to the capstones. 

Let the top arches be covered by a grading with a de- 
scent from the fronts of the stores to the centre inwards, 
T^et this grading be covered by flag stone laid in water-proof 
cement, having the edges filled with artificial slate cement, 
thus making the whole surface over the stores a solid face 
of stone. 

Along and over the centre of the stores, build a sewer 
with occasional openings down partition walls into dock 



sewers, with many openings on either side to admit ground 
water ; and with frequent openings to small sewers giving 
quick transit to surface water coming from gutters on the 
inside of the front walks. Over all lay rich loam about 5 
feet deep in the middle by 2J feet on the sides, graded with 
a descent from the middle to the front walk gutters 

Lay out this ground in four principal walks, and three 
lines of grass plots and trees parallel with the store fronts. 
Intersect these lines and walks by frequent cross walks. 
Let two of the four principal walks lie along the fronts of 
the stores. Let these walks be flagged with flag stones 
having a slight descent inwards. Make a flagged gutter 
along the inside of these walks ; and at right angles, for out- 
lets to the same, make small sewers, leading to the centre 
or main sewer. Let the centre of one line of grass plots 
and trees be over the centre of the stores; Let the two 
remaining lines adjoin the front walks. 

Let the spaces between these lines be occupied by the two 
remaining principal walks. Let the lines named be planted 
with grass plots and trees in due order. 

Let the style of the store fronts be nearly plain Gothic ; or 
a mixed Order of elaborate workmanship. Make the north- 
ern ends, on Battery Place, Tower like. On the fronts of all 
the "Walks, balconies and promenades construct an Ornamen- 
tal Iron Fence. Let this Fence represent Plants, Grasses, He- 
roes, Statesmen, Ladies, Children and numerous ^>^v^*^^yr»u^. 
Through the middle of each block build a line of chimneys — 
one for every two stores — each about 30 feet above the Ele- 
vated Promenade. Let these chimneys resemble, somewhat, 
in outside appearance, the top part of Trinity steeple, hav- 
ing however globe caps of iron surmounted by eagles of like 
material. 

Construct, in every store, a water closet, supplied with 
Croton water, ventilated by pipes leading into the chimneys, 
and opening to passages swept by constant currents of sea 
water. 

Let the fronts of the Balconies consist of cast columns and 

wrought plates of iron. Let the beams be timber with iron 

end fastenings. Ceil the beams with sheet iron. Pave the 

floors with a composition chiefly of fine gravel and Asphal- 

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turn ; or overlay the same with fine open-work castings hav- 
ing said open-work filled with a mixture of tar and chalk. 

Let the walks and crossings of the streets be flagged with 
flag stone ; and let the streets be paved with Russ or simi- 
lar pavement. Thus I have given an outline of the manner 
of constructing stores and appurtenances answering the pur- 
poses I have set forth. 

I now proceed to estimate the cost of the Battery Enlarge- 
ment herein proposed. To make calculations short and 
simple, I call the number of stores 700, all 5 stories high. 

650,000,000 Brick in stores |8 per 1000 $5,200,000 

1,400 Brown stone store fronts .'$1700 2,380,000 

19,0jft- Feet bulkhead 70 1,332,000 

9,9^,M0-Feet flagstone 15 cts 1,492,000 

10,755,liG Cubic yards of earth 30 3,220,535 

26f^0ajj(L Cubic yards of earth on Elevated Promenade 42 111,000 

700 Store foundations 2000 1,400,000 

14,000 Iron window shutters 20 280,000 

2,800 Iron door do 22 61,600 

5.600 Iron h;itchvvay do 20 112,000 

2,800 Sashed double doors 10 28.000 

14,000 Window frames with sash and lights C 84,000 

1.400 Offices finished & 50 70,000 

78,000 Feet curb and gutter stone 62^ 48,750 

12j3«^- Yards grooved Russ pavement 6 50 801 ,77.'j 

1,400 Rise and fall fixtares 150 210,000 

5,600 Flight of stairs 75 420,000 

17$^0 Feet capstones 50 87,000 

350 Chimneys 600 210,000 

2,400 Feet 12 inch water pipe 2 50 .''>,000 

24,500 Feet 6 do do 80 ia,600 

17,900 Feet 9 do do ', 1 30 23,270 

350 Hydrants 20 /',000 

3,500 Valves C 21,000 

1,820,000 Feet tin roofing '.*.' 10 182,000 

15 Sluiceways 300,000 

5,G00 Hatchway castings 40 224,000 

5,600 Stairway do it) 336,000 

16 Iron bridges 8000 128,000 

5l,7t7fl Feet iron fence 10 517,000 

Trees set and walks made 20,000 

8 Tiers of balconies excepting fence 17.000 136,000 

1,600.000 Feet tiller chains lO 160,000 

n,00 Wheel houses.. Y?«- IDO 140,000 

'32 Block ends of brown stone 6,000 192,000 

Facings for arches 800,000 

To pay for leases canceled, lots and houses bought on Broadway 

and Greenwich St., Inventors' compensation, and damages paid to 

persons having deeds from the Corporation, with a clause to the 

effect that the Batterry shall not be appropriated to private uses. 1,100,000 

For allowances and unestimated work 634,470 

Total net cost #'22,000,000 



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I estimate the rents of the stores annually, thus : 

7 Docks #6,000 $42,000 

700 Stores 3,000 2,100,000 

Total annual rent, . . .• 2,1^,000 

The annual interest on the cost of the work 

would be ^^^^sy-^. e--^-. $1,100,000 

Balance or yearly profit for sinking fund 1,042,000 

This would pay the estimated cost of the work in fifteen 
years. The value of the work when completed, making the 
rent 7 per cent on the amount, would be thirty millions and 
six hundred thousand dollars, or eight millions and six 
hundred thousand dollars over the estimated cost. 

The cost of the docks will be about $900,000. The 
wharfage will not pay a fair per centage on more than 
$600,000 ; yet thereby will be gained great attractions to the 
Promenades and great Commercial facilities. The cost of the 
Balconies and Promenades, including the extra cost of the 
stores, which will give to these Balconies and Promenades 
their peculiar position and effect, will amount to five millions 
of dollars, from which of course no direct income will be de- 
rived. The gain, however, to the general business of the city, 
by the influx of strangers from all parts of the world to see 
the New York Battery, will, without doubt in my mind, be 
more than the annual interest on five millions of dollars. 
The free use, too, by our citizens of the Balconies and Prom- 
enades proposed, will, I am confident, be estimated (if esti- 
mate can be made in money) at twice the annual interest of 
the sum last stated. Wharfage and rents of stores, there- 
fore, are far from being the basis from which to estimate the 
full value of the Battery improvements 1 propose. ^ 

These improvements will increase the value of property 
in the vicinity, at least one million of dollars ; and also make 
a new and large demand for dwellings in the upper part of 
the City. 

Let our Corporation carry out the proposed Improvement 
of the Battery chiefly by borrowing money of foreign capital- 
ists, in large sums, and at low rates of interest. 

Let all the Balconies and Promenades be open to the pub 
lie, thus setting a good example to the Bishop of London in 
respect to Saint Paul's Cathedral, and making obsolete our 
present permitted charge of " One Shilling" " to view the 
beautiful scenery of our noble bay and harbor." 



12 

The wharves of the 7 docks before described will be, in 
all, 16,275 feet in length. The fronts of all the sea wall 
waliNS, balconies and promenades, will be in the aggregate, 
like the length of the fence before named, 9 miles 4,258 feet. 

The views of the city from the Elevated Promenade, up 
Broadway to Grace Church, up South, Front, Water, Pearl, 
Beaver, Greenwich, Washington and West streets ; and the 
water views, south of the bridges, will possess attractions 
which no other promenade in the world can equal. The 
seven long, double rows of shipping in the seven docks, dis- 
playing the flags of all nations, will prove a most beautiful 
sight. I bespeak the fame of the Balconies for the magnifi- 
cence of their views, and for their cool and quiet shades. — 
The views of Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heiuhts, Long Island, 
Staten Island, Jersey shore, the Bay and the Islands in the 
Bay, as seen from the balconies and promenades I propose, 
will be most glorious, surpassing any^S^ in Venice or Con- 
stantinople, and far superior to the views from the present 
Battery in distinctness, variety, and spaciousness of outline. 

And reader, what will you see from the west side of the 
block fronting on the Outside Battery 1 Why over the outside, 
Battery, and under the trees where you stand, you will see 
north, both sides of the North River to Weehawken Rights, 
and south, our noble bay and harbor to the Narrows. All 
this, too, you can see in changed, yet most delightful aspects 
on the entire front of the Outside Battery. I have sought, 
with much patience and application, great diversity of views. 
Consequently, at almost every step you take over the pro- 
menades I propose, you will meet new views of our city, bay, 
harbor, and the surrounding scenery ; — here forests of ships, 
in stately and orderly rest, there a hundred sail obedient to 
the pilot and the breeze, — now a new scene in the bustle of 
business, and anon, a new view of the country in the distance. 

The views of the structure I propose, as well as those 
from it, will possess great attractions. The graded ascents, 
as seen from Broadway and Greenwich st. will have a fine 
effect. From our bay and harbor you will see, situated 
between two splendid parks, seventeen lofty blocks of ware- 
houses, connected at the tops by bridges, and covered by 
trees and promenades, interspersed, perhaps, with statues of 
Washington, Adarfis? Jefferson, Jackson, Clay, V\ ebster, 



13 

Taylor, and others. The eight blocks before named, will 
appear like so many most picturesque promontories, pro- 
jecting boldly between beautiful inlets into a tranquil sea. 

To meet objections, I remark that, East river, between the 
Inside Battery and Governor's Island, will be about 2500 feet 
wide ; or, in addition to Buttermilk channel, about 350 feet 
wider than the entire width of said river at Fulton Ferry ; 
that the distance from the southwest corner of the Outside 
Battery to Governor's Island will be full 3000 feet, and to 
Bedlow's Island over 6000 feet ; that the distance between 
the Outside Battery and the proposed Communipaw Improve- 
ments will be 3500 feet, or 500 feet wider than the present 
width of North River, opposite 13th st, and 1300 feet wider 
than the present turn of East river at Corlears Hook ; that no 
part of our/^rbor will be in the least injured by my improve- 
ments — that these Improvements will greatly improve the cur- 
rent, as wellyimcrease the safety and accommodation of ship- 
ping at all seasons, in the docks and channel of North River ; 
that the chimneys of the stores will produce a splendid archi- 
tectural effect, and not encumber or in any way injure the Ele- 
vated Promenade — that the smoke from these chimneys in 
winter (there being none in summer, the time of most recre- 
ation), will possess, in a degree, the attractions of volumes 
emitted from so many volcanic peaks, which certainly, in any 
place or position, can be offensive to nobody, except per- 
chance to some daring aeronaut in the sky; that the streets 
between and adjoining the blocks and Promenades proposed, 
being sprinkled and swept every week-day in the year, except 
when washed by rain, frozen, or covered by snow, will prevent 
dust rising— that these streets— open to and ending on the Sea 
Wall Walks, the Inside and the Outside Battery — being va- 
cated by vehicles and business, evenings, Sundays, and Holi- 
days, will then be delightful Promenades, making the entire 
space for recreation 96 acres ; that the regulations of the 
port of Liverpool, which forbid the use of fire on board of 
ships, being applied to the 7 Docks before mentioned, will 
prevent every thing offensive from that source ; that an Act 
of our State Legislature will enable our City Authorities to 
improve in full the New York Battery as I propose ; that the 
persons having deeds from the Corporation of the property of 
the block fronting on Bowling Green, Whitehall, Bridge and 



14 

State sts, in which there is a clause to the effect that the Bat- 
tery shall not be appropriated to private uses, have recently 
offered to sell this property to parties intending to build a 
large hotel upon it — that, without litigation or delay, a mod- 
erate sum would, at the present time, make void the clause 
referred to ; that, although the trees shading the northern 
part of the present Battery will be destroyed, yet that a more 
attractive growth will supply their loss, shading, with those 
untouched, not, as at present, 10 J, but 62 J acres ; that a cel- 
lar in a Commercial district is more valuable than an attic 
— that the attic stories of the stores proposed will not have 
half the dampness of a cellar ; that an arch is now erected 
over Furman street, Brooklyn, showing the feasibility of the 
arches I propose ; that a brick store can be made to hold 
water as well as a brick cistern; that a common brick store can 
be built to withstand the action of fire as well as a common 
brick oven ; that the vent for fire in the stores proposed, being 
only when closed, through warning holes over the window 
shutters, will be less than that from an ordinary coal pit which 
emits nothing but smoke and makes nothing but charcoal — 
that a fire might exist for a month in any of these stores with- 
out other damage than throwing out smoke, and, by slow 
process, making charcoal of the merchandise within its reach ; 
that any separate floor or story of any of these stores can be 
filled with Croton water with as little difficulty, and nearly as 
quick, too, as a canal lock at West Troy can be filled with 
Mohawk water ; that within the next five years, our Mer- 
chants and Capitalists can as profitably expend twenty-two 
millions of dollars in increasing the attractiveness and Com- 
mercial facilities of our City, as they have at least thirty mil- 
lions of dollars within the past five years, in building railroads 
in the Country ; that in two fires alone within the past fifteen 
years the fire-proof stores I propose would have saved the 
Merchants and Capitalists of our City nearly twice twenty- 
two millions of dollars ; and that, judging for the future by the 
past, a wise economy requires the erection of stores, in num- 
ber and description as hereinbefore given. 

My plan to improve the Battery is a democratic plan. 
At least three-fourths of the cost will go directly into the 
pockets of Mechanics and Laborers. The rents, after paying 
the cost, will go into the City Treasury, thus benefiting every 



15 

man. This Improvement will be to our city what the Erie 
Canal has been and will be to our State — a source of just 
pride and renown, of public revenue, and of innumerable 
general and special advantages to individual prosperity. 

To carry out all my plans would give steady employment 
to more than ten thousand men for the next twenty-five 
years. Employment is what the people want. An army of 
laborers will get us greater riches and more just fame, too, 
than an army of soldiers. 

As my Improvements will answer important public pur- 
poses, and promote the interests of many individuals, I so- 
licit subscriptions to enable me, l)y the aid of architects, me- 
chanics, and others, to perfect, and to make complete models 
of all my plans ; to make, upon some vacant lot or space in 
the city, specimen walls, arches, floors, roof and ground for 
a Promenade, such as I design for my Improvement of the 
Battery ; to procure surveys, maps, drawings ; and to form 
an Association, the object of which shall be, to advocate and 
support a vigorous prosecution of the improvements herein 
proposed. 



•^ , * • 1 oner my services 

as Real Estate Agent and Commission Merchant, in the 
hope that in this way, also, I shall be assisted in bringing my 
plans prominently before the public. I have models of my 
plan to enlarge and improve the Battery, which (when not 
otherwise engaged,) I shall take pleasure in showing to those 
disposed to aid me in starting the comprehensive system of 
improvements herein recommended. 

Citizens of this lovely island of Manhattan ! you who have 
capital ingenuity, and labor to employ, adopt the hints 
and suggestions contained in this pamphlet (the result of 
most of two years' survey and study to the author), and the 
present generation will see the City of New York the Com- 
mercial Metropolis of the world, possessing in art and works 
of gigantic industry, more that is wonderful and pre-emi- 
nent, than can be found in all England, Greece, Rome or 
Egypt. 



16 



And citizens of New Jersey ! make the Improvements I 
propose for your borders, fronting on that fairest of rivers, 
the Hudson, and you will have a city larger than Brooklyn, 
and second only to New York in commercial facilities. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 108 640 6 



Conservation Resources 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 108 640 6 



